Author: icesnake

Icesnake, known to Law Enforcement the world over as Rich Tietjens, retired from the US Army in 1992 and has spent the intervening years attempting to die with the most gadgets, and thus, win. To this end, he has written software both as a freelance programmer and a paid consultant, tested network products and built driver disks for Intel, operated a Web hosting service for ten years, built more personal computers than any sane man would ever want, collected seven cats, and finally settled down in Oregon as the Information Technology Training Coordinator (fancy talk for "help desk and PC tech") for a small manufacturing firm.

Rich started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1976 and has never given up the RPG habit, progressing through Diablo, Everquest, Asheron's Call, Diablo 2, and World of Warcraft. Most evenings you can find him on Trollbane-US playing his mage, Icesnake - who is an Engineer and is trying to collect all the cool gadgets in Greater Azeroth...

And so it goes.

You’ve Got a Virus!

  How to remove stubborn PC viruses This article was prompted by my experience the past two days with disinfecting one of my customer’s computers. He had managed to pick up the Trojan:Win64/Sirefef.Y infection, which typically produces this dialog box: It also prevents the Windows Security Center from running, shuts off the Windows Firewall, and… Continue reading You’ve Got a Virus!

Interview: JABstone founder Joe Bureau

Due to a recent stroke in the family, I recently was motivated to look for a method of helping non-verbal people communicate without making everyone around them learn sign language, or play charades. There are a number of apps available for smartphones and tablets, notably the iPad and the Android platform. After comparing features (and… Continue reading Interview: JABstone founder Joe Bureau

Streaming your Own Media at Home

You’ve cut the cable and now you want to be able to watch videos, listen to music, and look at the (thousands!) of digital photos you’ve taken; but you (or your spouse) don’t want that “big, noisy, ugly computer” in the living room, where your biggest HDTV is. Fear not, my friend! If you already… Continue reading Streaming your Own Media at Home

Netflix killed by the MPAA: Where do we go now?

By this time you probably know that Netflix has been forced to increase their prices by sixty percent in order to remain profitable after Hollywood decided to kill the golden goose (e.g., jack up the prices that Netflix has to pay for streaming movies and rental DVDs). My wife is adamant that we’re going to… Continue reading Netflix killed by the MPAA: Where do we go now?

And the Beat(down) Goes On: Getting Ripped Off in HDMI

Back in March of this year (2011), an electronics firm in Australia took the unprecedented step of letting consumers know that people who were paying more than AUS$10 (which is also $10 US, near enough) were getting ripped off. Kogan posted an offer on their blog to provide a free HDMI cable to anyone who… Continue reading And the Beat(down) Goes On: Getting Ripped Off in HDMI

Quick Review: Google Docs Unleashed (video)

I subscribe to the daily email newsletter from How-To-Geek and often find it informative or amusing, and sometimes it saves me some money. Today it saved me some money. It offered a link to AppSumo.com for a free video tutorial, entitled Google Docs Unleashed. This video is apparently geared towards the Marketing type, or an App… Continue reading Quick Review: Google Docs Unleashed (video)

Big News from the number 1 MMORPG

That’s Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, in case you don’t already know. If you listen to The Instance, you probably already know. Effective this past Tuesday, 27 June 2011, there have been some important changes for players who had not yet bought the first expansion (The Burning Crusade) and those who are interested in trying WoW.… Continue reading Big News from the number 1 MMORPG

Build your own Chromebook for cheap

Looking for a Chromebook so you can cut your dependency on expensive commercial software? Well, I’ve got good news, and bad news. The good news is that you can buy one now. The bad news is that they start at $350 and go up. If you’re not absolutely sure that a Chromebook will do what you need, that’s a lot of money to drop on an experiment.

How to Create a Digital Distribution System for Video and Music

Unless you’ve been living in a cave since June of 1999, you know that most people like the convenience of digital music and movies. You also know that the record labels (RIAA) and movie studios (MPAA) have been falsely claiming for that entire time that piracy is cutting into their “legitimate” sales. I’m going to… Continue reading How to Create a Digital Distribution System for Video and Music